trends-community-colleges-research-brief

-Figure 1: Full-Time and All Undergraduate Fall Enrollment at Degree-Granting Institutions by Sector, 2000 to 2014, Selected Years 8 Public Two­ 0 Distribution of Undergraduate Fall E

Trends in Community Colleges:

Enrollment, Prices, Student Debt, and Completion

The College Board The Urban Institute

Community colleges play a crucial role

in American higher education Their open admission policy, coupled with low tuition and geographic proximity to home, makes them an important

pathway to postsecondary education for many students, especially first-

generation college students and those who are from low-income families, as well as adults returning to school to obtain additional training or

credentials

In fall 2014, 42% of all undergraduate students and 25% of all full-time undergraduate students were enrolled

in community colleges1 (Figure 1)

According to a recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), nearly half (46%) of all students who completed a degree at a four-year institution in 2013-14 had enrolled at a two-year institution at some point in the previous 10 years These

enrollment patterns are not just picking up the occasional community college course taken by students; of those students who had attended a two-year institution, 47% had enrolled

in that sector for five or more terms (NSC, spring 2015)

Recent discussions of increasing the proportion of Americans with a college

1 In this brief, we use “community colleges” and

“public two-year colleges” interchangeably

credential have focused considerable

attention on community colleges,

which offer primarily associate degrees

and short-term certificates, often

involving preparation for specific

occupations President Obama’s

proposal for making community

college tuition-free has intensified this

attention Understanding the students

this sector serves, how they finance

their education, and whether they

succeed in earning the credentials they

seek is critical to policy development

In this brief, we summarize key data

about community college enrollment,

the characteristics of students in this

sector, the sticker and net prices

students face, student debt, and

completion rates

Enrollment and Student

Characteristics

Enrollment in both the public two-year

sector and the for-profit sector of

postsecondary education increased

rapidly between 2000 and 2010, but it

has declined since then As shown in

Figure 1, all postsecondary sectors saw

significant undergraduate enrollment

growth from 2000 to 2010 During this

10-year period, total enrollment in the

public two-year sector increased from

5.7 million to 7.9 million; full-time

enrollment increased from 2.0 million

to 3.3 million The for-profit sector saw

the fastest growth in enrollment over

this decade: its share of total

undergraduate students more than

tripled, and its share of full-time

undergraduate students nearly tripled

The share of full-time undergraduate

enrollment in community colleges

increased by four percentage points over the decade, while the share of all undergraduate enrollment in the sector remained stable

Between 2010 and 2014, both full-time and all undergraduate enrollments declined at public two-year and for-profit colleges while increasing slightly

at public and private nonprofit year institutions During this period, community colleges’ enrollment share declined from 29% to 25% of full-time undergraduate and from 44% to 42% of all undergraduate students.2

four-Variation across states

There is wide variation in enrollment patterns across states In fall 2014, the number of students in the public two-year sector ranged from under 10,000 in three states to 729,000 in Texas and 1.46 million in California (Figure 2) The percentage of all public undergraduate students in the two-year sector ranged from 20% in South Dakota and Montana to over 65% in Wyoming, Illinois, and California (Figure 3).3

2 In this brief, four-year institution categories include only those institutions where more than 50% of degrees/certificates awarded are bachelor’s degrees or higher

3 Alaska does not have a separate community college system Data from IPEDS categorize an institution that awards any four-year degree as a four-year institution By that definition, less than 10% of Florida’s public undergraduate

enrollment is in the two-year sector, compared to 63% by our definition Florida is one of 22 states that have authorized their community colleges to confer four-year degrees (Radwin & Horn, 2014)

RESEARCH BRIEF

2

-Figure 1: Full-Time and All Undergraduate Fall Enrollment at Degree-Granting

Institutions by Sector, 2000 to 2014, Selected Years

8

Public Two­

0

Distribution of Undergraduate Fall Enrollment at Degree-Granting Institutions

by Sector, 2000 to 2014, Selected Years

Notes: Private nonprofit two-year institutions are not included Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding

Sources: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS),

fall enrollment data, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014; calculations by the authors

Sources: NCES, IPEDS fall enrollment data, 2014; calculations by the authors

Figure 3: Proportion of Public Undergraduate Fall Enrollment in the Two-Year Sector

by State, 2014

Sources: NCES, IPEDS fall enrollment data, 2014; calculations by the authors

Figure 2: Undergraduate Fall Enrollment in Public Two-Year and Four-Year

Institutions by State, 2014

Because community college students are

more likely to enroll part time than

students in the public four-year sector,

the proportion of full-time students

enrolled in the two-year sector was

smaller than the proportion of all

students in this sector, ranging from

12% in Vermont to 52% in Washington

in fall 2014 While community colleges

in all states except South Dakota

enrolled a lower percentage of full-time

than of all undergraduates in fall 2014,

the relatively high proportions of

students who were enrolled full time in

this sector in states such as Mississippi,

New York, and Washington make the

two percentages similar In contrast, as

Figure 3 shows, in Vermont, the gap

between the percentage of all

undergraduates and the percentage of

full-time undergraduates enrolled in

public two-year colleges was large,

indicating that a high percentage of

community college students were

enrolled part time

Demographics: race and ethnicity

It is well documented that community

colleges serve a large proportion of

minority, first-generation, low-income,

and adult students Data from the

Department of Education show that

Hispanic students disproportionately

enrolled in the public two-year sector and

black students disproportionately enrolled

in the for-profit sector In fall 2014, while

16% of all undergraduate students were

Hispanic, 22% of undergraduate students

in community colleges were Hispanic A

quarter of undergraduate students in the

for-profit sector were black, compared to

13% overall (Table 1)

Table 2 looks at the same data from a different angle, showing sector choices by race/ethnicity Similar percentages of Asian and white undergraduates enrolled

in the public two-year and public year sectors But 44% of black and 56% of Hispanic students were in the public two-year sector in 2014, compared to 29%

four-from these groups in the public four-year sector The disproportionate enrollment

of black students in for-profit institutions

is also evident here

Asian and white first-time full-time students are much more likely to be enrolled at public four-year institutions than at community colleges, while black and Hispanic first-time full-time students are disproportionately represented in the public two-year and for-profit sectors As Table 2 indicates, 31% of all first-time full-time undergraduates were enrolled in community colleges, including 36% of blacks and 43% of Hispanics Five percent

of all first-time full-time undergraduates were enrolled in for-profit institutions, including 10% of blacks and 7% of Hispanics

Table 3 shows that although Hispanic students accounted for 16% of all undergraduates in the nation in fall

2014, they accounted for more than a third of all undergraduates in California and Texas Hispanic students

constituted 22% of community college students in the nation, 43% in

California, and 39% in Texas In California, Hispanic undergraduate students were the largest racial/ethnic group in public two-year and public four-year sectors In Texas, Hispanic and white students constituted similar shares of the student body in the public two-year sector

-Table 1: Distribution of Fall Undergraduate Enrollment at Degree-Granting Institutions

by Race/Ethnicity Within Sector, 2014

Asian Black Hispanic White Other Total

Table 2: Distribution of Fall Undergraduate Enrollment at Degree-Granting Institutions

by Sector Within Race/Ethnicity, 2014

Public Two-Year Four-Year Public Private Nonprofit Four-Year For-Profit Total

Notes: All the race categories in this brief are non-Hispanic Private nonprofit two-year institutions are not included

Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding

Sources: NCES, IPEDS fall enrollment data, 2014; calculations by the authors

Since California and Texas enroll a large

percentage of all community college

students, and both states have large

Hispanic populations, it could be that

these states explain the national

patterns When California and Texas are

excluded from the national totals, the

overpresentation of Hispanic students in community colleges continues to exist, although to a lesser extent Excluding California and Texas, 13% of community college students were Hispanic in fall

2014, compared to 11% of all undergraduate students

Table 3: Distribution of Fall Undergraduate Enrollment at Degree-Granting Institutions

by Race/Ethnicity Within Sector, 2014

Asian Black Hispanic White Other Total

Notes: Private nonprofit two-year institutions are not included Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding

Sources: NCES, IPEDS fall enrollment data, 2014; calculations by the authors

Demographics: age, dependency

status, family income, and parents’

education level

Community college students tend to be

older than undergraduates overall Data

from the National Postsecondary

Student Aid Study (NPSAS)4 show that

in 2011-12, about 20% of the lower-level

(first or second year) undergraduate

students in the public and private

nonprofit four-year sectors were 25 or

older, compared to 44% in the public

two-year sector and 59% in the

for-profit sector Among full-time

lower-level undergraduate students in 2011-12,

about 10% were 25 or older in the public

year and private nonprofit

four-year sectors, compared to 35% in the

public two-year sector and 58% in the

for-profit sector (Table 4)

While about 80% of public and private

nonprofit four-year students started

postsecondary education while they

were under the age of 20, only 58% of

students in the public two-year sector

were this young when they first enrolled

Twenty-two percent of public two-year

students began their postsecondary

studies between the ages of 20 and 24,

and 20% began after they turned 25

Table 4 also shows that 49% of

undergraduate students across all

sectors were dependent on their parents

for financial aid purposes Among the

40% of students in the public two-year

4 The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study

(NPSAS) is a nationally representative survey of

postsecondary students The NPSAS survey has

been repeated every few years since the late 1980s

The most recent study, conducted in 2011-12,

included 95,000 undergraduate respondents

sector who were dependent students, 31% were from the lowest family-income quartile, compared to 22% in the public four-year and 18% in the private

nonprofit four-year sectors (where 64% and 67% were dependent, respectively)

In the for-profit sector, where only 20%

of the students were dependent, 46% of this group came from the lowest income quartile

Consistent with the family income differences, in 2011-12, 36% of dependent students in the public two-year sector were first-generation college students, compared to 24% of those in the public four-year sector and 19% in the private nonprofit nonprofit four-year sector Almost half of all undergraduate students in the for-profit sector were first-generation college students

Financing patterns

Even though low-income students were disproportionately enrolled in the public two-year sector, students in this sector

in 2011-12 were least likely to apply for aid, with 61% having applied for federal aid and 70% for any aid In other sectors, more than 70% of undergraduate students applied for federal aid in 2011-12 and more than 80% applied for any aid (Table 5)

Table 5 also shows that between 36% and 38% of undergraduate students in the public two-year, public four-year, and private nonprofit four-year sectors were Pell Grant recipients in 2011-12, while 64% of undergraduate students in the for-profit sector were Pell recipients

Private Nonprofit Four-Year For-Profit Total

Age as of 12/31/2011 — All Lower-Level Students

Dependent Students' Parents Income

Parents' Highest Education Level

Source: NCES, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), 2012

Community college students were more

likely to work while in school than

students in other sectors In 2011-12,

more than two-thirds of community

college students worked; one-third

worked full time, compared to about one

out of five students in the public and

private nonprofit four-year sectors and

36% in the for-profit sector When only

dependent students are considered, 21%

of students in the public two-year and

for-profit sectors worked full time in

2011-12, compared to 11% and 8% of students in the public four-year and private nonprofit four-year sectors, respectively Full-time students in the public two-year sector were twice as likely to work full time as full-time students in the public and private nonprofit four-year sectors (23% vs 12% and 11%) The percentage of part-time students working full time was similar across sectors

Table 5: Characteristics of Undergraduate Students by Sector, 2011-12

Public Two-Year Four-Year Public

Private Nonprofit Four-Year For-Profit Total

Applied for Aid

Job While Enrolled in School — All Students

39% 43% 18%

28% 34% 38%

Source: NCES, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), 2012

10 RESEARCH BRIEF

Published Prices, Cost of

Attendance, Student Aid, and

Net Prices

Consistent with its role as a gateway to

postsecondary education for low-income

and first-generation students, the public

two-year sector has lower published

(sticker) prices than other sectors In

2015-16, the average published tuition

and fee price is $3,435 for full-time

public two-year in-district students, 37%

of the average price for public four-year

in-state students and 11% of that for

private nonprofit four-year students

(Table 6)

For community college students, tuition

and fees constitute a relatively small

portion of the estimated annual budget

In 2015-16, tuition and fees are 20% of the estimated budget, which averages

$16,833 after adding food and housing, books and supplies, transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses (Table 6)

Many of these nontuition expenses (such as food and housing, some transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses) are not specific to attending college Rather, they are expenses people face whether or not they are in school Nevertheless, the cost of living poses a significant hurdle for many community college students because it is difficult for them to work full time to support themselves and their families while in school

Table 6: Average Estimated Undergraduate Budgets (Enrollment-Weighted), 2015-16

Tuition and Fees Room and Board Books and Supplies Transportation Expenses Other Budget Total

Notes: Expense categories are based on institutional budgets for students as reported by colleges and universities in the

College Board’s Annual Survey of Colleges Books and supplies, transportation, and other expenses are the average

amounts allotted in determining the total cost of attendance and do not necessarily reflect actual student expenditures

Source: Ma, Baum, Pender, & Bell (2015), Figure 1